APPLETON, Wis. (AP) —— Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin has beenstripped of her title because pageant officials say she can stand—— and point to a newspaper picture as proof.
Janeal Lee, who has muscular dystrophy and uses a scooter, wassnapped by The Post-Crescent newspaper standing among her highschool math students.
“I’ve been made to feel as if I can’t represent the disabledcitizens of Wisconsin because I’m not disabled enough,” Lee saidThursday.
Lee, 30, of Appleton, had planned to go to the national pageantwith her younger sister, who also has muscular dystrophy and wonthe competition in Minnesota.
Students at Kaukauna High School, where Lee teaches, raised$1,000 for her trip to the national pageant.
The move by the state pageant officials, led by coordinator GinaHackel, is supported by the national board.
Candidates for the crown have to “mostly be seen in the publicusing their wheelchairs or scooters,” said Judy Hoit, Ms.Wheelchair America’s treasurer. “Otherwise you’ve got women who arein their wheelchairs all the time and they get offended if they seesomeone standing up. We can’t have title holders out there walkingwhen they’re seen in the public.”
Hackel said Lee should have been aware of the rules.
The crown now goes to first runner-up Michelle Kearney ofMilwaukee, who will travel to New York in July for the nationalpageant.
Boogie boarders plucked from sea in dramatic rescue
McKINLEYVILLE (AP) —— A U.S. Coast Guard crew in Humboldt Countytook part in a daring sea rescue, plucking two boogie boarders froman onslaught of rough waves off Samoa Beach.
Two teenage boys were found clinging to a single boogie boardfor flotation at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday after a strong riptidedragged them away from shore.
A helicopter rescue swimmer was lowered from a helicopter andwas able to get a strap around the first boy, and quickly hoistedhim aboard. The second boy lost his grip on the boogie board andhad to be snatched from the powerful waves by hand.
“They were physically exhausted, and extremely grateful when wearrived to save them,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer DaveBeacham.
The boys did not require medical treatment and were taken backto the beach to collect their belongings.
Dramatic video footage of the event shows the rescue swimmer andthe boys being pounded by the strong waves.
Report: L.A. man assured girlfriend’s father dead baby wasOK
LAS VEGAS (AP) —— A Los Angeles man accused of killing histeenage girlfriend’s baby at a Nevada state line hotel interruptedthe woman’s frantic call to her father with assurances that thechild was fine, police said.
duch*ess Davis, 18, called her father, Alex Davis, early March 23and said 6-month-old Russia Davis was dead, according to a LasVegas police report.
But Theodore Stevens, 28, took the phone and told the fatherthat the baby quit breathing but had recovered, the reportsaid.
Stevens, who also used the name Michael Sabatino, initially toldauthorities the baby might have fallen out of bed. He lateradmitted hitting the baby several times, police said. Authoritiessaid the child had a fractured skull.
Stevens was being held without bail at the Clark County jail onfelony murder by child abuse and child neglect charges. Davis washeld on $10,000 bail on a felony child neglect charge.
Stevens and Davis were arrested after authorities say theywalked through the Buffalo Bill hotel-casino with Davis sobbingthat her baby was dead and she needed help.
Security at the hotel, just off Interstate 15, found the couplewith the baby’s body in their car.
Trial delayed to 2006 for Utah siblings in Mesquite stabbingcase
LAS VEGAS (AP) —— Trial has been postponed to 2006 for a Utahman and his teenage sister charged in a Mesquite knife attack thatkilled a 3-year-old girl and left the girl’s 10-year-old sisterparalyzed.
Beau Maestas, 21, and Monique Maestas, 18, are now scheduled fortrial April 10, 2006, in the January 2003 slaying of 3-year-oldKristyanna Cowan and stabbing of 10-year-old Brittany Bergeron in atrailer outside the Casablanca hotel-casino.
Trial had been set for May 31 in Clark County District Court.But Judge Donald Mosley granted the postponement Thursday afterBeau Maestas’ lawyer, Pete Christiansen, said he will be involvedin another trial that could last up to six months.
Christiansen represents Hells Angels motorcycle club memberJames Hannigan in a case stemming from a deadly casino melee duringa 2002 rally in Laughlin.
Authorities allege Beau and Monique Maestas attacked thechildren early Jan. 22, 2003, after the children’s mother, TamaraAnn Schmidt, and her husband, John Schmidt, sold them fakemethamphetamine. Bergeron, now 12, was left paralyzed from thewaist down.
The Maestas siblings have pleaded not guilty to murder and othercharges. Prosecutors have said they want to seek the death penaltyin the case.
The Schmidts are facing charges of child abuse and neglect forleaving the girls alone in the recreational vehicle where theattack took place. They are scheduled for trial either July 25before a senior judge or March 27, 2006, before Mosley.
Beau Maestas is also due April 12 in Las Vegas Justice Court fora preliminary hearing on a charge of battery by a prisoner stemmingfrom a report that he tried to push a jail guard over a balconyrailing. He could face up to six years in prison if convicted.
Odds and Ends
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE (AP) —— A rare, wayward goose was being treatedat a Lake Tahoe wildlife center after spring snow storms forced itto take refuge in a most unlikely place — a ski resort.
Sierra-at-Tahoe employees discovered the lone Ross goose Sunday,miles from where the birds are usually found in the CaliforniaCentral Valley.
“I think he was on his way north and got a little off course,probably because of the storms,” said Tom Millham of Lake TahoeWildlife Care.
The goose was cold and afraid of the near-blizzard conditions atthe ski resort but wouldn’t let anyone come near. After employeesspent several minutes chasing the bird, it flew into a building andsuffered what Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care operators said was a mildconcussion.
Aaron Barnes, pub manager at Sierra-at-Tahoe, wrapped the gooseup and took it to the South Shore wildlife care facility.
“We will build him up a little bit right now, give him sometender loving care and send him on his way as the storm passes,”Millham said.
NORTHPORT, Ala. (AP) —— Tacky turf, or a green dream? HalBurleson’s yard is getting mixed reviews from the neighbors.
Burleson convinced his wife, Margaret, that it would be a goodidea to rip out the grass and replace it with artificial turf, thestuff found on football fields. He was tired of all the yard workand allergy flareups.
“At first, there were a lot of comments about it. Differentpeople thought it was just crazy,” Margaret Burleson said. “Someeven went to City Hall to try to do something about it.
“But, after it was done, people would compliment it and tell usthat it made sense.”
The couple got the idea during visits to Las Vegas and Laughlin,Nev., where they saw plenty of homes with fake lawns.
Don Wheat has been laying rugs for 31 years, but this was hisfirst order for truly outdoor carpet.
“I was definitely surprised they wanted to cover the whole yard— it’s real unusual,” Wheat said.
The Burlesons said the turf saves them on water and lawn carecosts. The mower and edger have been replaced as tools forupkeep.
“We use a leaf blower, or sometimes a heavy duty vacuumcleaner,” Hal Burleson said.
ROYAL OAK, Mich. (AP) —— Wanda and Winky soon will beCalifornia-bound.
The Detroit Zoo’s aging elephants could leave as early as Mondayfor the Performing Animal Welfare Society sanctuary, zoo DirectorRon Kagan said Thursday.
“We’ll try, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll try Tuesday. And ifnot, we’ll try Wednesday,” Kagan said.
Warm, dry weather has allowed elephant keepers to train the pairto become more comfortable with the retrofitted moving truck thatwill transport them. And the weather forecast for the 2,300-mileroute to the sanctuary looks good for early next week, Kagan toldthe Detroit Free Press.
The elephants’ toys, a cache of treats and much of their hay arealready on their way to the sanctuary, he said.
The journey will not be without risks.
Both elephants have arthritis and foot sores that will beexacerbated by the long stretch of standing in a stationaryposition. The moving van has been altered to provide barriers Winkyand Wanda can lean against to redistribute their weight.
And — without a doubt — Wanda, 46, and Winky, 51, will beburdened by the unfamiliar environment.
On the Net:
Detroit Zoological Institute,https://www.detroitzoo.org/critters2.html
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) —— Talk about being creative in apinch.
Six men aboard a Russian yacht used a cabin door to help steerthe crippled vessel. It sailed — limped, really — into NewZealand’s Wellington Harbor on Friday after a month at sea with themakeshift rudder.
The crew of the Apostol Andrey was relieved to make land afterbattling high seas in the storm-tossed Southern Ocean on thedisabled 50-foot yacht, skipper Nikolay Litau said.
Owned by a Moscow adventure club, the boat was going aroundAntarctica when it lost its rudder about 1,306 miles south of NewZealand on March 3, he said.
The crew decided to replace it with the cabin door and try tomake their way toward New Zealand, the nearest land.
The crew alerted Moscow’s maritime rescue coordination centerand it contacted New Zealand’s Rescue Coordination Center, sparkingseveral weeks of close communication between the boat, its owners,the rescue center and the Russian Embassy in New Zealand’s capital,Wellington.
“Forty days at sea was a little difficult,” Litau said.
Rescue center officer Mike Roberts described the crew’s journeyto New Zealand as a “fine piece of seamanship.”
“They are obviously highly experienced people. They were in anisolated place and coped very well in extremely difficultcirc*mstances,” he said.
On Friday the men were focused on their immediate plans —showers and lunch.
